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"A sporting liar," the Old Man once said, "is a truthful man turned dishonest by circumstances beyond his control. There is no real malice in him, and he is unique among all brands of liars, because with practice and careful handling his lies eventually become unshakeable truth. This applies to all sporting liars except dog liars. I wouldn't believe anything a man said about his hound, his Labrador, his pointer, or his setter, sworn before a notary on a stack of Ken-L-Ration." Robert Ruark, The Old Man and the Boy, 1953 Submitted by John H. Tonsfeldt Spirit Lake, Iowa The English word pen, like its French and Spanish counterparts, derives from the Latin penna, or feather. While ages spent writing with quill and ink explain this apparent coincidence, Language in this case offers a splendid accidental metaphor. Observant hunters care about what they see and hear just as much as they care about what they shoot, and whenever I spend a morning in a blind, I find it easy to imagine a special vocabulary written in the language of the wings overhead. E. Donnall Thomas, Jr., The Language of Wings, 2011 Submitted by Bob Whitehead Cloverdale, California He's a shy one, the remembered boy who lives down among the bones of old years, and comes out when there are only the two of you and the fish and the water, the earth's clear blood, which runs toward you, around you, binding you back into one, then goes on, bearing all things away, without malice or relent, carrying alike the dry fly that lands lightly on the water, the fish rising in the current and the fisherman's years, the numerate weight of a given life, one life, your one life, rushing by. How can we make ourselves grasp this, my brothers and sisters? It is all and always rushing by. Howell Raines, The One That Got Away, a Memoir, 2006 Submitted by Michael O'Mara Seymour, Connecticut Turkey hunting is a magical, intellectual, tactical exercise conducted out of doors. It is a personal, contemplative sport that does not require the production of a dead turkey to be classified a success. Like the lover on John Keat's Grecian Urn, the only requirement is that you chase – nowhere is it written that you have to catch. Tom Kelly, Better on a Rising Tide, 1995 Submitted by Jim Stephenson Raleigh, North Carolina Because I am a primitive at heart, I find my happiness in seeking out the wildest and most inaccessible corners of the earth. The spirit of adventure! Without that, life would be a poor thing for me. Roy Chapman Andrews, Heart of Asia, 1951 Submitted by Clay Howard Keller, Texas Two dozen shells to harvest just three birds? It was the vilest shooting of my life, Unspeakable in Anglo Saxon words. Better, had I just thrown my Boy Scout knife. The Father taketh and the Spirit giveth, But me? I know that my Retriever liveth. Timothy Murphy, Hunter's Log, 2011 Submitted by Bob Norris East Greenwich, Rhode Island For those who truly love hunting, therefore, the work of the hounds is a central part of their delight. Of course, the thrill of the chase is also important. But it is a thrill of the same kind: it comes from sharing in the animal excitement, so that the currents of emotion which flow from hound to horse and back again are diverted through your pumping arteries, dissolving human knowledge and spreading it to the centaur limbs below. Roger Scruton, On Hunting, 1998 Submitted by Mitchell McNaylor Harvest, Alabama This is fishing: the golden sun; the green of the willows guarding the river bank, the busy life of the birds with their ever pulsing mad song. Were it not for these and the gentle ever- flowing river, time might stop. Elsie Blackwood, Many Rivers, 1968 Submitted by Louis W. Duncan Sisters, Oregon Send us your favorite quotes from sporting literature and receive one free gift subscription for every quote that is published. Include the author, title of book and date of publication. Send to: Quotes, Sporting Classics, PO Box 23707, Columbia, SC 29224 SPOR TIN G CL ASSICS 255